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So, civilization is in shambles, anarchy is the order of the day, you’re fleeing whatever catastrophe zone you were in when disaster struck. You’ve survived off the land and have been making steady progress toward a safe place to survive. You haven’t seen a soul for weeks and the loneliness is starting to weigh down on you like a slab of marble on your chest. How do you cope with being alone for an indefinite period of time?

The reaction to loneliness is called a “coping strategy” and fits into one of four categories: active solitude, spending money, social contact, and sad passivity. Active solitude is where you stay active, perform tasks to keep yourself mentally and physically active. Spending money is more about getting out of your normal environment and acquiring new things and less about the actual act of spending money. Social contact is striving to talk to people and have social interactions with others. Sad passivity is when you sit around feeling sorry for yourself, partaking in activities that exacerbate the empty feeling of loneliness you have.

Most experts agree that keeping yourself mentally and physically fit is the best way to cope with loneliness. In a survival situation it’s important to conserve energy, but if food and water are plentiful it can’t hurt to do a few calisthenics first thing in the morning. If you are in a stable situation, you can go for a jog or a walk.

Mental activity is just as important as physical activity. Putting your thoughts to paper is probably the best thing you can do. It allows you to reflect on your day, what happened, what you were thinking, thoughts, hopes, fears, etc. It allows you to process any difficult things from the day. The problem is that you need paper to write on and a pen to write with. Even if you have these things, how long will they last? By no means am I saying you shouldn’t keep a journal, you just need to be aware of your supplies. Whether you brought one with you or you find it in an abandoned gas station on your way, reading a book can keep your mind active. Teach yourself a skill, or practice one you already know. Not only will this keep your mind active, but this skill may come in handy later on when re-establishing society.

You can befriend an animal, a domestic cat or dog is best, if you need that social contact. Wild animals can be dangerous to try this with, where domestic animals were born and raised around humans in a civilized environment. It may sound crazy, but if worse comes to worst, start talking to yourself. Its not a very good strategy, but tricking yourself into thinking you are interacting with others is better than nothing.

Prolonged periods of isolation can be incredibly dangerous. In prisons, it has been proven that solitary confinement has lead to suicide, depression, chronophobia and Ganser syndrome. If you want to survive Armageddon, you have to learn to cope with isolation.

Further Reading:

One of the things you need to worry about in the post-apocalyptic world is fitness. The modern mind set of fitness dictates that you run everyday or go to the gym and lift weights on specific machines. These workouts are essentially designed to make you look good naked and while there’s nothing wrong with that, you need to be “functionally” fit. These workouts are not efficient at building your body to throw objects, walk or run a long distance over rough terrain, out run a predator, etc. You want to train your body to perform everyday tasks as efficiently as possible.

First of all, running is good. You need to be able to run to evade predators and you will probably need to use running as your primary mode of transportation. On top of this, it is a great cardiovascular excercise. The more you run, more endurance you build. While running 6 miles a day can improve all this, you can’t solely rely on that. Add some sprint training into your routine, run with a weight belt, run stairs, do something more than just the hum drum run. Running is an aerobic workout, but you need to work your running muscles anaerobically (in an oxygen deprived state). Working muscles in an anaerobic state is the best way to improve power in those muscles. It will also give you a little extra push when you feel exhausted and on the verge of collapse.

You need to build your core. Your core muscles are your abs, lower back muscles, and glutes. These muscle provide the core of your strength and stability. Improving these muscle groups will do more for you than improving any other muscle group, plus it provides a solid base for improving your other muscles. You don’t really notice how important your core is, but without it you have poor balance, poor posture, etc. There are any number of excercises that can be done to work these muscles, but in my personal opinion: nothing beats pilates. Pilates was designed specifically to improve the core and build control. It looks lame and boring, but it is a killer workout, especially if you’re a beginner. One of the reasons I like it is that it requires no special equipment and can literally be done anywhere that you can lay flat. You can buy DVD’s to learn the techniques or you can go to your local gym and learn.

Aside from this you should pick up some specialty knowledge: swimming, rock climbing, self-defense,etc. It was recently suggested to me that parkour would be a good skill to pick up for the apocalypse. Parkour is a french sport that is sometimes called “freerunning.” The practitioner adapts their movements in an environment to overcome any obstacles in their way. They jump off walls, over rails, climb fences, etc. This is a good example of expert parkour:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jquXcwooV6A&w=100&h=100]
I personally think that the key to building and maintaining a functional fitness program is to come up with a routine that you can work with, that pushes you, and that doesn’t require any equipment (in case the apocalypse does come and you have to haul ass away from where you are right now). Relying on equipment or any particular environment (a gym, paved running path, etc) could be detrimental in the long run.

The United States Marine Corps uses a calisthenic program that they call the “Daily 7”. This routine covers a very basic workout that is designed as a warmup as stretching routine, but it will do in a pinch as a simple exercise program.

Mulligan stew goes by many names: irish stew, hotch-potch, hot pot, burgoo. This recipe is believed to have first originated in the early 20th century in hobo camps. The beauty of this recipe is that its not so much a recipe as it is a guideline. If you’ve ever heard the story of stone soup, mulligan stew is the epitome of this idea. The idea was that a bunch of hobos would get together and add whatever they could scrounge or scavenge together in a pot and cook it.

Mulligan stew is essentially the combination of chunks of meat and chunks of vegetables. It doesn’t matter what kind of meat or what kind of vegetables because it will all come together just fine in the end. To make the stew, you need a pot and a fire. Cut whatever meat and vegetables you have into bite-sized pieces and put in the pot. Fill the pot up with water just enough to cover the contents. Place the pot on the fire, covered, for at least 2 hours.

If you’ve read any of my previous articles, you will have noticed that they are all focused around surviving in the wilderness. There are plenty of websites that you can read with this type of article. How to survive in the woods, how to live without the use of modern society, and other general survivalist topics. That isn’t what I’m focusing on here. I think this information is vital, but what I’m trying to provide is information on how to survive in a doomsday scenario.

In most doomsday scenarios, the infrastructure of the world is still intact, the people are just gone (plague, external invasion, etc). Most every city and town in the U.S. has a grocery store, a hardware store, and a majority even have a hospital. These facts put together means that you can go to nearly any city and scavenge any equipment or materials you may need. Something that every single city, town, or village anywhere in the world has that can be useful: empty buildings. You can use a settlement to provide shelter, either temporary or permanent.

Put this information together with the basic survivalist knowledge and you get a full spectrum guide to survival. The key is to be resourceful and use your environment. If the manual says “use a stick” and you happen to be near a town, go to the hardware store, get some PVC or lead pipe or something like that instead of scrounging for hours for a proper stick. Like the Boy Scouts say, “Be Prepared.”

In an end of the world/limited supplies situation, it can be a benefit to know how to make a torch. A torch may be used as a long-lasting light source or a small heat source. In an environment without electricity, a torch is an easy way to light an area.

Makeshift Torch

In a survival situation, you may need to improvise a torch for one reason or another. In this case you need to use your environment to make a torch. There are three basic components to a makeshift torch: the handle, the wick, and the fuel. The handle is the part you hold on to and attach the rest of the torch to. It is commonly a 3-4 foot long stick that is about 2-3 inches thick, but it can be any material you can find that won’t melt or fall apart. The wick is the part of the torch that you light on fire. This can be anything from dry grass to leaves to twigs: as long as its flammable it will work. In fact, the more flammable the better because that means it will be easier to light. The fuel is what is doing the “heavy lifting”, so to speak, of the torch fire. You can use animal fat, wax, tree sap, or (should you be desperate enough) chapstick.

You need to coat the wick completely in the fuel, make sure that everything is covered. Wrap the wick and fuel around the top of the handle and tie it with something: a strip of cloth, flaky bark, vines, roots, string, wire, etc. Once you light this, it should last for a fair amount of time, but this depends on how much fuel you put into it. It should be noted at this time that these torches are not very stable and it is possible that it could begin to fall apart and you may even burn yourself, so be careful!

Birch Bark Torch

There is an even simpler way to construct a torch, though it won’t last nearly as long. This is a birch bark torch. To make one of these, you need to pull a sheet of bark off of a tree with papery bark like the birch tree. Your sheet should be about 2-3 feet long. Wrap it at an angle to form a cone. Make sure it is wrapped tightly, but not so tightly that it isn’t hollow in the center. Tie it in several places down the length with string, wire, vines, etc. This type of torch will only last a little while, but its a great way to get light quickly.

Permanent Torch

If you need a more permanent torch, you need to use more permanent components. For the handle, use something like PVC pipe or a metal post. The best solution for wick and fuel is string and lamp oil. You can make an oil reservoir using an old soup can and an old tuna can. Punch a hole in the bottom of the tuna can and feed a string (or actual candle wick) through it, then fill the soup can with lamp oil. Turn the tuna can upside down and place on top of the soup can. Duct tape the two can together and attach your reservoir to the top of your handle. This torch can still be leaky, especially if it isn’t held upright, but it offers a more permanent, reusable solution.

Of course, the best solution is to just scavenge a tiki torch from the Walmart near you. While chintzy, the $5 tiki torches in the Outdoor department at a Walmart or similar store are better built than most things you can put together “in the wild”.

Further Reading

Nearly ever day, you do land navigation without even realizing it. When you drive your car, you use known land features (street signs) to get where you are going. When you use a road atlas to determine your course for a long road trip, you’re performing land navigation. While not necessary, a map can play a vital role in land navigation. But you need to learn how to read a map before you can properly use it to navigate.

If I can teach you one thing, let it be proper map maintenance. You can’t fathom how important it is to keep your map properly folded and clean until you’re trying to read what the map says underneath a mud stain. The best thing you can do is keep the map folded and in a ziploc bag unless you need to use it. There is a lot of detail in some maps, especially topographical maps, and the tiniest discoloration or marking can really ruin your day. If you get something on your map, try to get it off as quickly as possible.

There are several different types of maps. Physical maps show general physical features such as mountains, desert, water, etc. Political maps show the boundaries between political entities. Road maps, as you would expect, shows roads. Resource maps show economic or natural resources represented by small icons. Climate maps use color coding to indicate the climate in an area. Topographical maps are highly detailed local terrain maps. Essentially, most of the maps I described are totally useless for land navigation. Road maps are only useful if you’re following a road (which is a legitimate strategy), physical maps are only good for getting a general idea of where you are, and resource, political, and climate maps may not even be drawn accurately to scale.

Every map has the same features that you should be aware of. First of all, the top of every map is always North. Why is the top always north? Unfortunately, the answer to the has been relegated to the past so all I can say is that it’s that way because it has always been that way. There is usually a compass rose (indicating cardinal directions) and a legend. The legend is key because it defines the symbols used and what they represent, which can vary from map to map. The color blue is typically reserved to represent water, so if you see blue on a map its probably water.

Topographical Maps

Given the choice of maps, you should always go for a topographical map. These maps are highly detailed terrain maps and are updated fairly often (often enough that they are usually dated). For that matter, there is a ton of information written in the margins of topographical maps. The state and county that the map is in is usually displayed in the upper right hand corner. In the lower right hand corner is information about roads within the area of the map and a picture depicting where the map is in relation to the state it is in. The area that the map represents is called a “quadrangle” and is designated a name or label by the United States Geological Survey. Each adjacent quadrangle is labelled in the margin of each topographical map. This is convenient if you need to plot things out on more than one map.

Colors play an important part in the topographical map, they define features in a way that is easily discernible from each other.

Brown lines show the terrain contour and are called “contour lines”. They show the shape of terrain and the elevation.

Black lines indicate man made features like roads, trails, etc.

Blue, as you would expected, indicates water features.

Green is used to show vegetation.

Red is used for highways and land grids.

Because topographical maps are so detailed, a specific set of symbols was developed to represent a great deal of information in the smallest amount of space possible.

Terminology

When referring to maps (especially topographical maps) there are some terms that will crop up from time to time that you need to know.

contour lines – On a topographical map, each contour line represents a specific elevation. It is called a contour line because when placed all together they show the contour of the terrain feature.

contour interval – The contour interval is the space between each contour line. The interval is a uniform change in elevation. This means that contour lines can be space close or far depending on the change in elevation in the area.

index contour – Index contour lines are the contour lines that represent the base elevations. For instance, the index contours on one map may be every 100 feet, or every 1000 feet.

ridge – A ridge is a relief feature that is a series of hills in a chain. This feature looks similar to the knuckles on the top of your hand when closed into a fist.

hill – A hill is a feature that rises up from the surrounding terrain. Each of the knuckles on your hand look like a hill.

saddle – A saddle is the depression between a pair of hills. This is represented on your hand as the space between your knuckles.

valley – A valley is a depression in the surrounding terrain that usually extends in one particular direction. On your hand, this is represented as the space in between your fingers when they are extended.

depression – A depression is an area that is sunken in from the surrounding terrain. If you cup your hand, palm up, it forms a depression.

spur – A spur is a minor ridge that extends from a larger ridge. If you look at your fist, the tops of your fingers are the spurs to your knuckles.

draw – A draw is essentially a valley formed in between two ridges. If you make a fist with your hand, you form a draw in between your fingers.

cliff – A cliff is a sudden drop off in elevation, think the side of your hand.

Further Reading

In the modern world, most people don’t have to think about how to get from point A to point B. The most difficult thing anybody has to do is look at a road atlas. While land navigation has become more of hobby than a skill, in the event of an apocalypse, those who do practice it would have an advantage over those who have mostly depended on GPS to get them where they’re going. Of the two basic skills that encompass land navigation, reading a compass is the more difficult but by far the more rewarding.

Basic Usage

In general, using a compass is fairly simple. Most compasses have a floating needle that always points to the north magnetic pole, but there are some (usually cheap keychain compasses) that the face is the floating piece and the needle doesn’t move. Either way, all you have to do to get your “bearing” is to point the north end of the compass in the direction you are facing and read the little number on the outside ring of the compass that the needle points to. This is called the bearing and gives you an accurate idea of which direction you are heading in. Most compasses are numbered from 0 to 359 (for the 360 degrees of a circle) and each right angle (0, 90, 180, 270) is a cardinal direction. Once you’ve taken your compass bearing you need to adjust for magnetic declination (discussed next) to get your map bearing and then you can navigate yourself very accurately anywhere in the world.

If you look at the face of a compass, you’ll notice that the face appears to be backwards. This is because the needle always faces north. So if you turn east the needle is still pointing north, but on the face of the compass the needle is pointing at east. When using a compass, be aware of your surroundings – metal objects and electrical objects can have an effect on your reading. Anything from power lines (which can affect your reading from within 55m) all the way down to jewelry (which practically have to be touching the compass to affect it) can have an adverse effect on your readings.

Magnetic Declination

Magnetic declination is the term used to describe the difference between “true north” and “magnetic north”. Where true north lies at the top of the world, the north magnetic pole lies in the Arctic Ocean just above Canada. The north you read on a compass is actually magnetic north and because of this, you have to account for the difference between the two if you want remotely accurate readings from your compass. There is no easy formula for figuring this out because the north magnetic pole moves. Most topographical maps will display the magnetic declination in the legend, but in the case you only have your compass, or your map is more than a few years old, you can take a reading at night of either Polaris (the north star) if you are in the northern hemisphere, or based on the Southern Cross constellation if you are in the southern hemisphere. Taking a bearing from the Southern Cross takes a little more effort because you have to visualize a point in the sky. Basically, you find the Southern Cross and draw a line down the long end of the cross, then find the bright pair of stars to the left of the Southern Cross and draw a line that runs perpendicularly to them. Now the point you want to aim at to get your bearing is the point at which your two imaginary lines meet (see picture).

Picture from http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/southern-cross/2/3

The Lensatic Compass

A lensatic compass

There are a number of different types of compasses, but the compass you will want in a survival situation is a lensatic compass. The lensatic compass was designed for use by the military. They’re durable and incredibly accurate. One of the most important features of the lensatic compass is that it uses a copper induction dampening system. Where most compasses suspend the needle apparatus in a liquid in order to keep it free floating, a lensatic compass does not, so it can be used without fear of the liquid freezing or changing pressure because of temperature or elevation. If you plan on purchasing a lensatic compass, be careful in your purchase! Lensatic compasses are expensive, so there are a lot of imitation compasses on the market that don’t work quite right.

Center-Hold Technique

Proper center-hold technique

The Center-Hold technique is the most common way to hold a compass and get an accurate measurement. This technique can be used with any compass and can be performed while walking. It is less accurate than some other techniques but perfectly acceptable if you are only trying to go in a general direction.

To perform this technique, rest the compass on both thumbs at waist level and parallel to the ground, held between your index fingers (as pictured above). To take a reading, just look down at your compass. The needle will be pointing in the direction you are facing. The reason this is ideally suited to taking readings while moving is because while you are walking you can simply glance down to see what direction you are walking in, but this will only give you a general idea.

Compass-to-Cheek Technique

Proper compass-to-cheek technique

If you have a lensatic compass and you need a more accurate measurement, the Compass-to-Cheek technique is a much more suitable technique. It is far more accurate than most other sighting techniques, but it takes longer to get your reading and must be done from a stationary position.

Open the rear sight and cover of the compass to form a front/rear sight configuration. Hold the compass level and against your cheek. Line the rear sight up with the sighting wire in the front cover and then line the sighting wire up with the landmark you are trying to get a bearing on. Without moving, look down through the lens to get the bearing of the landmark.

Reverse Sun Dial Technique

If you find yourself without a compass, all is not lost. Did you know you can use your wrist watch to tell directions? Take your watch off and orient it such that the hour hand is pointed in the direction of the sun. Visualize a line on your watch directly between the hour hand and the twelve o’clock line. This is the north/south line, where north is in the direction furthest away from the hour hand. What you are doing is essentially reversing the premise under which a sun dial works. Instead of using the suns position and a general understanding of directions to determine the time, you are using a known time and the suns position to determine a general direction. You don’t even need an analog watch for this to work! You just need to be able to visualize the angle at which the hour hand would be at any given time and where the 12 o’clock line would be in relation.

Alternatively, if you have time to do this, you can put a stick in the ground, mark the tip of the shadow, wait 15 minutes and mark the tip of the shadow again. If you connect point A to point B you have created the east-west line. West is always in the direction of point B to point A (the direction the sun is moving).

If you spend enough time talking with people in the survivalist/catastrophe world, you’ll hear the term “go bag” plenty, but what is a Go-Bag? Wikipedia describes a go bag, or bug-out bag as they call it, as “a portable kit popular in the survivalist subculture that contains the items one would require to survive for seventy two hours when evacuating from a disaster.” In other words, if disaster struck right now what would you want in your immediate possession to survive for the next 3 days? These kits are designed to be portable, easily accessible bags meant to help you survive a disaster. These kits go by several names including Go Bag, Bug-Out Bag, 72-hour Kit, and GOOD (Get Out Of Dodge) Bag. The concept is believed to have been derived from the emergency kit that military aviators carry during flights.

So, how do you get started? While, the name denotes that you should put everything into a bag, you don’t necessarily have to. You just need a container that will fit everything that is easy to carry with you. Most people use a backpack or messenger bag because they are easy to get a hold of and easy to carry. Remember that you should have one go bag for each person in your family. Along those lines, it is essential that you don’t “share the load”, or spread items amongst everyone you are packing for. While it’s unpleasant to think about, you are packing for a worst case scenario. What happens if you get separated and someone else had the matches in their bag? Because disasters are a hectic time, it is also helpful to clearly label each bag with the name of the person whom it has been packed for. Again, what if you get separated and you don’t have any of your clothes? This is also important if you are evacuating with children. You don’t want your child bogged down with a bag that is too heavy for him to carry. Don’t forget to pack a bag for any pets you have!

A disaster can strike at any time, so be prepared: keep a go bag at home and at work. If you do this, you need to get into the mindset from the get-go that one of these bags will go to waste. If disaster strikes, there’s no way you’ll be able to salvage both bags. You need to resign yourself to the loss to begin with so you can pack your bags appropriately and not curry favor to one bag over another. Make it accessible! What good is having a go bag if you’re going to hide it under all those boxes in the basement? This bag needs to be somewhere you can get to at a moments notice. It should take you no more than a few extra seconds to get your bag on the way out of your house, than it would if you were just leaving.

The contents of your go bag should be well thought out and properly planned. Two hours before leaving isn’t enough time to put together a proper go bag, especially if we’re talking about an end of the world type scenario that this blog focuses on. If you are packing at the last minute, so is everyone else. The items you wanted in your go bag will no longer be available and you’ll end up making due. What if that hurricane turns into a storm that no ones every seen before, wiping out coastlines for miles inland? What happens if plague strikes slowing killing off the population of the world? The go bag you packed two hours before leaving town suddenly doesn’t seem so appealing does it?

The following items are suggestions for putting into your go bag. The inventory of your go bag is ultimately up to you. There are quite a few items on this list, and it is VERY unlikely that you could stow all of these comfortably in one go bag so pick and choose what works best for you.

Light Source – You should have some kind of light source, be it a flashlight or chem lights. There are ups and downs to either choice. A flashlight is convenient because you can turn it off when you don’t need it, whereas a chem light is on until the chemical reaction is done. However, when a chem light is done, you can throw it away. On top of packing a flashlight, you have to pack extra batteries or else the flashlight loses its usefulness. If you want to be incredibly gung-ho, you can pack night vision goggles in your go bag. This means that you won’t be giving away your position at night to those who may wish to harm you. Plus, you can purchase infrared chem lights which means that when you crack them, they won’t be visible unless you’re wearing night vision goggles.

Batteries – There are plenty of items on this list that require batteries. If you pack any of them you need to ensure that you pack batteries to last you throughout the nominal 72 hour period. That being said, if you can buy a version of any device in a form that doesn’t require you to change batteries (i.e. hand crank powered, solar powered, etc.) this could be the best solution. You don’t know how long you’re going to be away from home, and you don’t know how devastating the disaster was to society at large. The longer you can make something last without having to depend on an item, like batteries, the better.

Dust Mask – Remember when the World Trade Center collapsed? If you didn’t live in New York City, you must have seen images of the dust cloud rolling out away from the remnants of the buildings and the haze that sat over the city for weeks afterward. This is what happens when a building explodes/collapses. Now imagine that happening near you, would you want that thick, choking cement dust filling your lungs because you don’t have a filtration system?

Pocket Knife/Multi-tool – Having either a pocket knife or a multi-tool can be extremely helpful, and more so if you are in survival mode for more than 3 days. You may need to cut rope, shave bark, etc. If you don’t know what a multi-tool is, it is basically a pair of pliers with various cutting and manipulating devices crammed into the handle. You may have also heard these by the name Gerber or Leatherman as these are particular brands. I prefer a multi-tool, but a simple pocket knife will do just fine. Fair warning, pocket knives (and multi-tools) weren’t designed to be weapons and thus don’t make very good weapons, you should keep this as a survival tool. That being said, if worse comes to worst, a pocket knife will do fine as a weapon but if used as a weapon you could unintentionally hurt yourself or break the blade.

Emergency Cash – If this is truly an end of the world situation, cash will eventually be worthless. In the short term, however, it can be vital to your survival. You can use it to pay for supplemental supplies that you don’t have in your go bag, for transportation, etc. Just remember that the longer the post-event chaos and anarchy goes on, the less value money will have. This is likely to be one of the few nefarious or less than moral tips I’ll give, but money has an ingrained value in society and flashing around cash to get what you want will help “grease the wheels” if you will, even though the instant disaster hits and society begins its irreversible decline money will be completely valueless. Coins on the other hand can be valuable under certain circumstances. For as long as telephone company switching stations stay functional, pay phones will remain functional. If you have quarters, you can make phone calls. Who will you call? That’s up to you, but be forewarned that after a few days to a week those switching stations are likely to go and a you will likely not be able to contact anyone. If you choose to carry cash, carry small denominations. You’re not likely to find someone who can or will “make change”.

Clothing – This is something that you should put in your go bag no matter what. As I have said before, what you put in your go bag is up to you, but if you don’t put at least a change of clothing in your go bag, you’re a dumb ass. If your clothes get wet, you need to swap for dry clothes and let the wet ones dry out. This is especially true for socks. You should put a pair of sturdy shoes or boots into your go bag that you can change into at the first possible chance. You should also pack for weather, pack a poncho for rain, a hat, gloves and coat for cold weather, etc. I say a poncho as rain gear because it is easier to wrap up tightly so it takes up less space in your go bag. The more space you can save, the more stuff you can bring.

Permanent Marker/Pen – You’ll need to write, whether it be a note to your family or a journal to keep you sane. While this may not seem vital, you’ll feel differently after a month or two of isolation. Isolation can cause anxiety, sensory illusions, distortion in time and perception, and after extended periods of time can lead to clinical depression and inability to establish relationships at all. Most sources say that these symptoms can be avoided by keep yourself occupied and your mind busy. The best way to do this is to write a journal. This could be as simple as writing notes to leave behind for others about who you are and when you passed through, or notes indicating where to find food or water, or as elaborate as a journal in which you keep your thoughts and events of the day.

Paper – Coupled with the oh-so-vital pen is paper. If you don’t have paper, what will you write on?

Food – Food is the second most important thing you can pack in your go bag. Eating even a little food everyday will keep you alert and give you energy. You will be more likely to survive if your head is clear and you can keep moving. You will want to pack food that isn’t perishable and is hermetically sealed. Energy bars, a sealed can of nuts or two, dried fruit, trail mix, beef jerky, and canned meats are best because they are high in protein, which will be of greater short term benefit than something like canned fruits or vegetables. Baby food is also a good alternative because most baby food is fortified with vitamins and minerals you will need to keep going. If you can manage to get a hold of a box of military “Meals Ready-to-Eat” or “MREs”, by all means do so! These MREs are designed precisely for this situation. They have all the nutrients you need for a survival situation, and you can survive on one a day if you need to. They are also self-contained, including a way to heat your meals without flame, a toiletry pack including a moist towelette, toilet paper, and matches. Buying food for a go bag can be a financially daunting task. However, you can split up the cost over time. Every time you go grocery shopping, budget $2-$5 specifically for go bag food. Before you know it, you’ll have all the food you need.

Water – By far the most important thing to have on this list, water will keep you alive more so than anything else on this list. Unfortunately, water weighs approximately 8 pounds per gallon and will quickly weigh you down. You should pack roughly 3 gallons per person in order to drink and cook with. I suggest gathering your water in the large plastic water bottles you buy from the store, as these have easily sealed lids and usually fit well into pockets or backpacks. They’re also sturdy enough to be reused once emptied. Which brings me to my next point.

Water Purification Supplies – Whether it actually be a full blown portable filtration system or simply a bag full of iodine tablets, you need some way of purifying water. The water you pack will only last 3 days at most and you can’t risk drinking non-potable water or assume that clean water will be available somewhere. Keep a look out here for a future post exclusively about water purification.

Family Photos – While these can be a sentimental reminder of the loved ones not with you, I place importance on these photos because they can be used for identification at a later date. If you are trying to find these people (or pets), you will need photographs to show people when asking about them.

List of Phone Numbers – In case you find a telephone that still works, you will want a list of phone numbers to call. Do not keep this in an electronic format! You have to assume your device will have lost power and you won’t be able to recharge it. A pen and paper will suffice perfectly in this situation. You might even use one of those fancy, printers and print a list of phone numbers out.

List of Allergies – This is something everyone should know anyway, but just in case someone is forgetful, or too young. They should have a clearly identifiable way of showing their food and drug allergies.

Toothbrush and Toothpaste – In the long run, dental hygiene will be important. If you lose your teeth, you lose your ability to eat food without special preparation. You could fashion a makeshift toothbrush and toothpaste later on or scrounge one possibly, but better safe than sorry I say. You may not be able to find the materials for a makeshift toothbrush or you may not find an actual toothbrush down the road.

Tent – Shelter is a must while in the initial survival stage and if you pack a tent, its one less thing you have to worry about when the sun starts to set and you start getting tired. I would suggest against the larger tents on the market today as these are far more than what you need, even with a group of 4 or 5. You may not be comfortable jamming 3 people into a pup tent, but you’ll stay warm in the cold nights and you’ll need less space to set up a camp.

Sleeping Bag – Again, shelter is important and staying warm and protected against the elements is a major factor in that. Bringing a sleeping bag will help with both of those. On the downside, most sleeping bags are bulky and cumbersome. If you have the opportunity to buy a sleeping bag with a compression bag to put it in, I highly recommend it. A compression bag is a bag to keep something like a sleeping bag in that has straps all around the outside so that you can clamp down the bag and squeeze the sleeping bag down to the smallest size you can get it to. I also recommend toying around with it before you actually need to use it so as to become familiar with how a compression bag works and how to maximize the effectiveness of it.

Cooking Supplies – Something like a Coleman grill or pots and pans, while not vital, can make life just a little better. Not having to cook a can of stew directly in the fire and then deal with trying to open a hot can can make the difference between being a miserable wreck and being some guy in the woods. This is a simple matter of convenience and mental health. If you want to pack this sort of thing, be my guest. If you don’t, no one holds it against you.

Cutlery and Dishes – This falls into the same category as cooking supplies, they make life just a little easier. I’ve seen sporks on the internet that look durable enough to pack for this purpose. Plus, having a spork means one less piece of cutlery to have to carry per person. As far as dishes go, I’d go with a small plastic or metal plate with a little curve to it. It will be relatively easy to pack and can be used universally.

Fire Starting Tool – There are a great deal of ways to start a fire. Simple match and kindling, a 9-volt battery and steel wool, ferrocerium rod, a flare, and the list goes on. Pick one you feel comfortable with and are reasonably assured that you will be able to start a fire with. Having a fire can be important, it can keep you warm, it can cook your food, it can keep predators away, it provides a light source in the dark, etc. This is another item I plan on writing a more in depth.

Radio – A radio can be beneficial because you can tune into emergency broadcasts to hear the status of things. Somebody may also be transmitting a signal on a frequency you could pick up. Common sense should tell you that you will need a radio that operates on battery power and not a plug-in radio, but there are also varieties of radios available that are powered by a hand crank and can be recharged by spinning the handle several times.

Two Way (or Hand-held) Radio – This is an entirely different type of radio than previously mentioned in that it is the type of radio you would use to talk to others. Having a hand-held radio means that you will be able to respond back if someone is broadcasting. These radios typically have a scan feature built in so that you can monitor many channels at once. Most commercial grade radios operate in the VHF range and require an operator’s license to use. Having an operator’s license seems like it would be moot in an “end of the world” situation, but truthfully it would be helpful to have one just to know how to properly use a radio.

Firearms – The end of the world has the potential to be a very dangerous, and very scary, place. Having a weapon of some sort can help you protect yourself, but it can also be a hindrance. Should you find yourself in a dangerous situation, having a weapon could dissipate the situation if used properly for the situation. However, most people feel a false sense of security from carrying a sidearm and tend to get themselves into bad situations thinking they have the upper hand. A more important use for a firearm is hunting. You’re going to run out of food and you can’t assume that you will be able to scavenge food. You also can’t assume you will be able to hunt your food consistently either, but it provides another option. Don’t forget to pack ammunition! Nothing could possibly make you feel more idiotic than forgetting the ammunition for the firearm you brought.

Crowbar – A crowbar can be the most used thing you will pack. At the point in which people have abandoned their possessions, for whatever reason, the crowbar becomes your skeleton key. You can pry doors open, break windows, and break locks in order to access abandoned buildings or vehicles. You can pry the top off of a crate (if you ever find one). It can also be used as a weapon should it be needed.

Magnifying Glass – This can be useful to look at the minutiae on a map, but I think it would be more useful to light a fire by focusing sunlight, or as a light signal to airplanes or distant people.

Whistle – In the situation where you are trying to signal a distant party, but they aren’t looking in your direction and don’t notice you yelling, a whistle can be used to create a shriller, more easily heard noise at further distances. If each person in your group has one and you get separated, one of you can use a whistle to indicate your location while the others find you. You can find these whistles nearly anywhere, but I would advise getting a metal referee’s whistle as it will last you longer and will make a much more noticeable noise when blown.

Moist Towelettes – You aren’t always going to have water to clean yourself off with and you shouldn’t waste your drinking water for cleaning yourself. If you have moist towelettes, you can use them to give yourself a sponge bath of sorts. You won’t be the cleanest, but you’ll be clean enough and the difference in mental acuity and well-being will be significant. If you are trying to evade and hide from anybody, not having your stench waft over the area you’re in can be helpful.

Outdoor Garbage Bags – A roll of the kind of garbage bags you use to bag up leaves in the autumn can be used for a number of purposes. You can make a poncho or a water filtration system. You can waterproof your gear with one.

Maps – If you have a map of where you are, you will never be lost. Add a compass into the mix, and you can navigate anywhere. It would also be useful to have a map of where you’re going (if you know where you’re headed). There are a number of different types of maps available. Stay away from the political maps. they are less than worthless for land navigation. A road map can be beneficial, but will only help you if you travel by road. If you can get topographical maps, these would be best because they allow you to navigate anywhere with the right tools and knowledge.

Compass – Even if you don’t pack maps, a compass will help you get your bearings and prevent you from getting completely lost.

Candles – As most people use them now, candles make great emergency light sources. Should you run out of chem lights, batteries for a flashlight, etc. Candles make great light sources. If you’re conservative with the wax, you can reuse it to make new candles.

First Aid Kit – This falls squarely in the “Better Safe Than Sorry” category. A first aid kit is the precaution inside a precaution and it can make or break your survival. You should be able to pick up a standard first aid kit at your local pharmacy or outdoors store. A basic first aid kit is not designed to be used as a primary care tool, there are larger kits you can buy from medical suppliers that carry a more extensive array of equipment. Some items you should consider having in your kit (whether it comes with them or not) are

Painkillers

Antibiotic Ointments

Diarrhea medications like Immodium

Sanitary pads

Pepcid

Benadryl and other allergy pills

Theraflu

Bandaids (lots of it in different shapes and sizes)

Gauze pads / roll gauze and first aid tapes

Betadine

Hydrogen Peroxide

Blood Stopper trauma bandage

Gel antibacterial hand wash

Prescriptions

Super Glue or Liquid Stitches

Don’t skip out on the antiseptics, because you don’t need an infection that festers and spreads and end up losing a limb or dying. Just because you have the means to take care of an injury or ailment doesn’t make you a doctor! You haven’t got the knowledge or experience to treat serious problems, so you need to stop them while they are still minor.

Blankets – Regardless of where you are or where you are going, it WILL get cold and you need a way to stay warm, especially when you aren’t moving. Pack a Mylar solar blanket or the like in order to keep the cold at bay. Mylar blankets are especially convenient because they aren’t bulky at all and very easy to fold up and tuck away.

Hand and Feet Warmers – These are a bit of a luxury unless you live far enough away from the equator. In these northern climates having an ample supply of hand and feet warmers can keep hypothermia away and your digits attached. You should get the carbon activated kind if you can because they are very convenient.

Ziplock Bags – These aren’t vital for survival, but they come in handy more often than you think. Because they lock closed, they are waterproof which can help keep things dry that shouldn’t get wet. They also keep moisture in, so something that should stay moist can keep better in a ziplock bag. Most importantly, these will lock in smells so you can keep food or trash in them and not attract unwanted animals.

Work/Latex Gloves – It’s inevitable that you’ll have to deal with something unpleasant be it hazardous waste, a dead body, Constantina wire, or just broken glass. You’ll need some protective gloves to keep the “eww” off of you. Work gloves are good for jobs where you might cut or otherwise damage your hands, picking up glass, carrying Constantina wire, moving heavy equipment, etc. Latex gloves are good for dealing with wet materials you don’t want to seep through to your skin: human waste, a body, chemical spills, etc.

Ropes – Ropes can help you strap things to your bag so you can carry more. They can be used to hang things when you’re stopped for the night. They can be used to assist you in climbing a steep incline or rock face. If small enough they can be used to make candles. You should familiarize yourself with at least a handful of different knots and practice using them often. It would behoove you to buy a pocket guide for knot tying in case you forget how to tie a knot or which knot to use for which purpose.

Duct or Rigger’s Tape – Duct tape is great for binding things and waterproofing things. Its capable of holding a great deal of weight and is resistant to tearing. The problem with duct tape is that it is designed to patch leaks in ducts and is therefore designed to stick to wet metal materials. It isn’t very good at sticking to anything else. Rigger’s tape is, however, like duct tape on steroids. It is as strong and waterproof as duct tape, but will stick to ANYTHING. As great as rigger’s tape is, it is expensive and harder to procure. The only place I’ve ever seen it, is military surplus stores and moreso around military bases. Whichever direction you choose to go with this item, I suggest carrying 1 roll.

Watch – Everyone sees a watch as a one purpose item: to tell time. In a post-apocalyptic survival situation, whats the point of knowing what time it is? Honestly, there is no reason. But a watch has more use than that, most importantly: pacing. You can keep track of how long it takes you to walk a mile so you can estimate how long it will take you to go a further distance, this in turn will allow you to estimate how far you can travel in one day. On the other side of the coin, if you know how long it takes you to walk a mile on average, you can estimate how far you’ve gone.

Satellite Phone – A satellite phone can be a good asset to keep with you, provided you don’t mind carrying a device that will require batteries or a way to charge existing batteries. The reason a satellite phone is better to carry than a standard mobile phone lies in the way each communicates with its network. A mobile phone must be able to communicate with a cellular tower which then communicates through a satellite to another tower and to another mobile phone or into the terrestrial phone network. A satellite phone, however, links directly to any satellites it can communicate with, thereby “eliminating the middle man” so to speak.

Solar Chargers – If you haven’t noticed yet, I’m against packing anything that requires batteries or power really of any kind because it is unreliable and if you loss your power source, the item is useless. However, should you decide to pack any of these items, a solar charger would be a good idea. You will be able to charge your batteries or items while the sun is out.